Spanish Grand Prix 2016, Catalunya - Race 5/21

I wonder what sort of effect having the engine map (or whatever it is called) on the setting it was does to the start? If he had it in the right setting, it would have mean't that the accident wouldn't have happened, no? Lewis wouldn't have closed on him like he did, and Nico would have had more speed to block any line without it looking like he was too slow to defend, meaning Lewis would have been able to wig out.
 
leaskovski said:
I wonder what sort of effect having the engine map (or whatever it is called) on the setting it was does to the start? If he had it in the right setting, it would have mean't that the accident wouldn't have happened, no? Lewis wouldn't have closed on him like he did, and Nico would have had more speed to block any line without it looking like he was too slow to defend, meaning Lewis would have been able to wig out.
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Of course, if Rosberg had more speed this could have been avoided for two reasons, less difference in speed and he would have been paying attention to the race and not some buttons on his steering wheel at a key moment. :p
 
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bayo000 said:
It was nowhere as bad as Schumi vs Barichello and I don't even understand how can anyone compare those 2 situations. Rosberg moved to defend his place before Hamilton had any part of his car alongside. Hamilton should have breaked as soon as he saw door being closed.
Anyway as far as I'm concerned they should take each other out more often so we get to see more cars fighting for the win. :)
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+1

Dont see what all the (external) shouting is about, although I can understand Merc team being ******

Hamilton should have breaked, he didnt, no point crying over spilt milk as the saying goes

Blatently obvious Rosberg would close the door - just like LH has done countless times before to NR.

ebilcake said:
It wasn't reckless, he was on a straight carrying a lot more speed, why should he not try to overtake? The accident was a result of Rosberg not leaving room.

.
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Rosberg doesnt need to leave room, he took the one allowed move (ie he didnt swerve back and forth which isnt allowed) and typically Hamilton didnt try and avoid the crash - not like it was the last opportunity for that day, it was 1st lap.

If LH HAD avoided it they would have walked that race and most probably LH would have come out on top through the pit stops etc, but no LH had to do it straight away.
 
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Mr Jack said:
rather than doing what a sensible driver would do and biding his time, he goes for a reckless pass on a half-chance. More than once, we've seen this end in tears.
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But you cannot bide your time on this track, as has been proven by Kimi not being able to get past Vers, or Ricci not being able to get past Vettel. Biding your time will leave you nowhere but behind the guy in front.

Additionally as can clearly be seen from the onboard Lewis moved first, only after did he move to the right did Rosberg come off his braking line to block him. Had Rosberg the rat not moved over like he did, we would all have been saying what a fantastic opportunistic pass it was by Hamilton to take the lead and win the race.

The fact is had that been Ricci, Vettel or anyone else, they would not have moved over like that because 1, they had already committed to the braking line and by rules couldn't move again and 2, moving over like that would be a dangerous and stupid move.

Terrible decision by the stewards but it was always going to be that way. The rules are clear and they have blatantly ignored them. They seem more concerned about handing out petty reprimands for plastic cones than they do for intentional rule breaking and dangerous moves with the potential to cause a serious accident. Imagine for one moment if you will, what would have happened if Hamiltons rear wheel had 'dug in' as he went sideways, he could have barrel-rolled on to that gravel trap, not slid.

/rant

:)

Jay
 
FrankJH said:
+1

Dont see what all the (external) shouting is about, although I can understand Merc team being ******

Hamilton should have breaked, he didnt, no point crying over spilt milk as the saying goes

Blatently obvious Rosberg would close the door - just like LH has done countless times before to NR.



Rosberg doesnt need to leave room, he took the one allowed move (ie he didnt swerve back and forth which isnt allowed) and typically Hamilton didnt try and avoid the crash - not like it was the last opportunity for that day, it was 1st lap.

If LH HAD avoided it they would have walked that race and most probably LH would have come out on top through the pit stops etc, but no LH had to do it straight away.
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Why do you think LH would have won through pitstops? All the evidence, especially from last season says otherwise. The driver in front having first choice of pitstops gives them a noticeable advantage, even if the driver behind is faster. This happened multiple times last year, and was something that Hamilton complained about many times even though he appeared to be the faster car.
 
FrankJH said:
+1

Dont see what all the (external) shouting is about, although I can understand Merc team being ******

Hamilton should have breaked, he didnt, no point crying over spilt milk as the saying goes

Blatently obvious Rosberg would close the door - just like LH has done countless times before to NR.
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Please point me to an instance when Hamilton has closed the door on anyone like that halfway down a high speed straight.

Rosberg doesnt need to leave room, he took the one allowed move (ie he didnt swerve back and forth which isnt allowed) and typically Hamilton didnt try and avoid the crash - not like it was the last opportunity for that day, it was 1st lap.

If LH HAD avoided it they would have walked that race and most probably LH would have come out on top through the pit stops etc, but no LH had to do it straight away.
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Yes Lewis should have waited, just like Ricci he could have gone from 1st to 4th due to pit stops, but Lewis would have won right? Or I guess he could have stayed behind and hoped to get past on the track just like Kimi couldn't and Ricci couldn't, you really don't understand this track if you think people can just whizz past at the drop of a hat.

How do you think Lewis in a merc is 3 times WDC and Rosberg in a merc is not? If you want something you have to go for it, and going for it in F1 is taking every opportunity to overtake while you can, especially on tracks like this, if you don't understand that basic concept then you don't understand racing.

/rant 2

:)

Jay
 
alx said:
Why do you think LH would have won through pitstops? All the evidence, especially from last season says otherwise. The driver in front having first choice of pitstops gives them a noticeable advantage, even if the driver behind is faster. This happened multiple times last year, and was something that Hamilton complained about many times even though he appeared to be the faster car.
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I thought Merc. alternated their 1st stop policy each race, regardless of who was leading?
 
Only just watched the race now,

My 2p worth, was the move aggressive? Yes, good I want to see aggression from Lewis, he needs to push or this championship is over. He saw Nico was harvesting and he better than anyone else knew Nico would be slow out of that corner so went for it.

Nico jumped on the mistake with the switch then closed the door on a car with a big closing speed, It's not easy out there.
 
Nismo said:
I thought Merc. alternated their 1st stop policy each race, regardless of who was leading?
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I don't think that's the case. They do alternate who goes out first in qualifying though i believe.

The problem is with this track is that if he'd sat behind he wouldn't have got past. The main overtaking opportunity was the main straight but the following driver could never get decent drive out of the last corner because of the dirty air coming off the car in front. Despite his straight line speed advantage Kimi couldn't get close enough to Max coming out of the last corner to be able to pass him on the straight. The same could be said of Seb and Daniel. If i remember correctly even the Saubers were having to banzai each other to make passes at the first corner.

The truth is Lewis saw the opportunity in the speed difference and pounced on the opportunity. The problem is Rosberg's not as quick and made a hash of cutting him off. He would've known his speed was down and he was vulnerable as he was trying to fix the issue that was causing this. What he should have done was move left and cut back as i doubt Lewis would've been able to keep a decent line from the inside of that corner and would've naturally been slower coming out of it. Something I've seen Alonso do loads! But this is the difference in the Nicos and Hamiltons of the world, Stick Nico in front and he will plod away and win the race. Get him stuck in the field defending and attacking and he just isn't as good as a Hamilton/Alonso/Vettel/Riciardo etc. He is being flattered greatly by the car to be honest. You just have to look at Daniel attacking Seb in turn one. That should've been a shower of carbon fibre and tears but it wasn't because they gave each other just enough room to be able to race.

Still, its done now. However it will be interesting to know what has now been decided behind closed doors at Mercedes.
 
FrankJH said:
Rosberg doesnt need to leave room, he took the one allowed move (ie he didnt swerve back and forth which isnt allowed) and typically Hamilton didnt try and avoid the crash - not like it was the last opportunity for that day, it was 1st lap.

If LH HAD avoided it they would have walked that race and most probably LH would have come out on top through the pit stops etc, but no LH had to do it straight away.
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His front tires were along side just before he was ran off the track, Hamilton avoided initial contact by leaving the track at which point he had no control.

He was carrying to much speed to back off, you either fully commit to these or you don't.

If Rosberg paid more attention to the race he might have noticed.
 
alx said:
Why do you think LH would have won through pitstops? All the evidence, especially from last season says otherwise. The driver in front having first choice of pitstops gives them a noticeable advantage, even if the driver behind is faster. This happened multiple times last year, and was something that Hamilton complained about many times even though he appeared to be the faster car.
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Like Ricciardo did when he was leading the race and then ended up 4th?
 
bayo000 said:
Like Ricciardo did when he was leading the race and then ended up 4th?
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"The exception that proves the rule".

Of course there will always be instances where it doesn't work out for the leader, but do you really disagree with my point regarding the Mercedes drivers and the driver in front having the advantage?
 
I'll probably get flack for this, but personally think the rule about leaving a gap is stupid. It's racing. In any sport, you do everything you can to stop someone overtaking you. If it results in an accident so be it. Lewis did the instinctive thing to try and overtake but clearly misjudged it, and Rosberg did what anyone would try and do to stop your rival from getting in front of you. Just basic, gut instinct.

Either take the risk and win or crash and burn. :p
 
I think half the problem is that in the past Rosberg has jumped out of the way and Hamilton has squeezed him off when they're wheel-to-wheel* that it's not even funny. Many people have thought it would have been nice for Nico to grow a pair and give Hamilton a taste of his own to an extent (not to push him off, but to make it difficult) and i think that's all he was doing.

To me no-one was fully to blame, it was just number of circumstances which led to it, and I think the body language of both showed they thought so too. Rosberg shouldn't have closed the door so brutally and Hamilton should have drove into a gap that was always going to disappear. In reality it was just the closing speed that left no time for either driver to do much about it once both had committed.

* People mention Bahrain (2012 was it?) when Rosberg ran Hamilton and Alonoso off, but Hamilton did this to Rosberg at least twice in 2014 too (on the exit of turn 3/4).
 
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At least we are fortunate enough that Rosberg got punished for the move also. If Ham had spun and didn't collect Rosberg, it would be so cruel.

Sure, Hamilton didn't get to close the gap in the standings, but it didn't grow either.
 
Yes. I'm happy about that too. That as of the next race, the points difference will still be the same for both Rosberg and Hamilton as at the end of the Russian GP. Kimi however is now second and 4 points ahead of Lewis, but I doubt that will remain the case after Monaco.
 
alx said:
"The exception that proves the rule".

Of course there will always be instances where it doesn't work out for the leader, but do you really disagree with my point regarding the Mercedes drivers and the driver in front having the advantage?
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I don't disagree with that. However this was on a first lap with plenty of time to try a risky move later on if he couldn't do it safely. Hamilton needs to calm down on first lap.
 
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